Abby's Birthday and a Turkey-Hotdog Refresher Course for Mom

Well, it looks like we are doomed to posting once a week for a while - something to do with Mom leaving at o'-dark-thirty, and it being sort of dusk-y when she gets home, making for non-optimal photo time.  Mom has been saying something about how she has never been so excited for the Solstice in her life as she is this year - even if it is only a few minutes a day, she wants to know the days are getting longer.   But, Mom has assured me that she is going to try to post once a week.

Which is a good thing, as well have All Sorts of Exciting Things going on.

First, Abby took Mom to Petco for a refresher class on how to feed turkey-hotdogs as Mom has been slacking in the turkey-hotdog department for a while.  

Abby, being Abby, had to go suck-up to Jessi, first thing, and then go make friends with the two little Westies who were finishing up their class...

After the little dogs left, Abby got her private lesson (of which there are no pictures, because Jessi was really focusing on Mom's turkey-hotdog-delivery technique).  At the end of the private lesson, Mom's technique wasn't totally perfected yet, so Jessi invited Mom to continue to practice in the next class of the day, whose only member was Mogli, a 9 month old Newfoundland.

Abby greeted Mogli modestly, as usual.

Okay, so Abby really doesn't DO modesty....

And then they got back down to the serious business of Mom feeding turkey-hotdogs in such an enticing manner that Abby would run through Petco looking for Mom and her turkey-hotdogs.  First Mom practiced by just standing at the end of an aisle and offering her turkey-hotdogs.  Then Mom was hiding behind things, and Abby proved too be too clever.  So Mom thought she'd be Super Clever....

Let's just say Abby had the last laugh!

However, we think Mom is now crate-trained!  Heehee!

Mom got her revenge, however....  You know how I mentioned that this last Monday was Abby's birthday, but we were holding off on the celebrating until this weekend?  Well, after the Crate Incident yesterday (Mom says she got in there voluntarily, but I think Abby lured her in with some turkey hotdogs!), Mom decided to do the birthday thing today.  Which meant that Abby had to wear The Birthday Hat!

Abby is looking rather pleased with herself because Mom is hold bits of ham just off camera.  But I almost feel sorry for the poor girl - I mean with a birthday in December she's subjected to the elf hat, and the antlers AND the birthday hat all in the same month!  I least with my birthday in July, I get to spread out the, ah, glad tidings!

Mom made cake (well, mini-cakes) for both of us.  Although keeping true to the 'second-child-is-an-afterthought' maxim, Mom didn't actually have a birthday candle for Abby, and had to, ah, improvise!  (And get the card off the candle before it caught fire!)  But the cake was quite tasty!

And Granny and Grandpa had sent us some Most Excellent sweet potato snacks which we checked out - 4 paws up!  Thanks from both of us (because Abby will share, I promise!)!

After the birthday celebrations, Abby and I ran off our cake with a little bitey face. 

And a little frisbee time.

And, a little Sitting In The Snow Looking Regal.  She's a Hippobottomus, what can I say?  Besides, she did get Mom to crawl in that crate, so that's totally deserving of a little lazing about!

And finally, a gratuitous picture of me, because the ratio of Fi:Abby photos is way out of balance!  Heehee!

 *kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

My Sister the Super Spaz

Before our Granny retired, she was one of Those School Teachers - you know, the teacher whose class you prayed to not be placed into. Mean Mrs. Marshall she was called. And one of the things Mean Mrs. Marshall would do to kids who stepped out of line was make them eat lunch with her, rather than with their friends. Why do I mention this?

Well, when Abby got to her Canine Good Citizen prep class today, she was being a Super Spaz. Yeah, really. Abby. I know, hard to believe, huh? Heehee. Because Abby was all spazzy, she had to go sit with the teacher!


However, I am sure that Granny never used Vienna sausages to get her students to behave. (Although, if Granny's students were eating the school lunch, maybe she did!) Jessi worked her magic, and Abby started to pretend to be act like a good dog. BTW, I am not trying to suggest that Jessi is Mean; I'm saying that Abby, like some of Granny's students, needed a little, uh, up-close-and-personal attention to behave like a good doggie.



However, Abby had to stay with Jessi for quite a while.

Not that Abby minded. Abby first met Jessi when Abby was 10 weeks old, and has never forgotten that Jessi is The Original Source of Turkey Hotdogs.

Abby as a 14 week old suck-up.

But I digress... Jessi got the wild beast that is my sister to calm down, and Abby went from Crazy Puppy...

To suck-up puppy (yeah, so she's a year and a half old - she'll always be a puppy!)....


She may be bigger, but that just means she's a bigger suck-up! Heehee.

Look at her, all good citizen-y in training!


But as soon as she got back to Mom?

Goofy puppy.

Heehee.

Meanwhile, the rest of Abby's class was, well, less goofy.

Zoe and Denver just hanging out like REAL Good Citizens.

Hefner, being the handsome standard poodle that he is.

Banjo, the Cavalier King Charles spaniel, being a good little doggie.

Okay, enough of the Good Doggies. Let's get back to my little sister and her class today. She and Mom had to approach another doggie/person pair, and Abby (and the other doggie) had to sit while Mom and the other person shook hands. Let's just say that A LOT of Vienna sausages were involved in this process...

Yes, Mom is shaking hands with the wrong hand, but her right hand is covered in a Vienna sausage/dog slobber combination...

Yeah, um, Abby's got a little more work to do before she's ready to past that part of the test! Heehee.

Then, Abby had to attempt to do the same thing that I did last week. She had to sit in the middle of a circle of doggies and attempt to pay attention to Mom... Emphasis on 'attempt.'


Mom had to dispense a whole bunch of turkey hotdogs to get this:


And you'll notice when Abby was one of the doggies walking in the circle, she kept trying to eat Mom's fingers off in an attempt to get at the turkey hotdogs...

Heehee. I think Abby's got a fair amount of work to do before she's ready to be a Good Citizen, but Mom is hoping that with Jessi's miracle-working abilities, Abby might be ready to pass the test in a few years, ah, in a few weeks. Or maybe Abby is just being a goofball to get the extra turkey hotdogs... Hmmm... I must ponder this behavioral cleverness... Heehee.

Okay. Enough about Abby and her ability to snarf down turkey hotdogs and Vienna sausages. Let's get to a few funballs shots from us at the park yesterday morning...



Good times! And yes, I've got the greatest sister in the world. Even if she's a goofball!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

PeeEss: Mom would like to thank Jessi for getting some pictures of Mom during our doggie classes. She'd also like to thank Jessi for molding us into the fine, upstanding doggies that we are today!

I'm a GOOD GIRL

Just ask my Mom. She told me so about a million times on Friday, so it Must Be True!

Note from Mom: it is true. Actually, both girls are good girls; goofballs, yes, but good girls nonetheless.

I had MY doggie class on Friday, and I did all sorts of stuff that Abby has to be able to do to be a 'good citizen'. But first, we worked on Mom's turkey hotdog delivery technique. She gets better and better each week!


And Jessi (the woman who is teaching Mom to feed me turkey hotdogs) brought all sorts of funballs things out for us to do...


While Jessi was getting us sorted out, I checked out my fellow classmates:

Kaley the Weimaraner:


Her older brother Hunter, who, as an old dude, takes frequent rest breaks - no dummy him! Here he's ready to be tempted by nommy treats:


And Cooper, the labradude (who reminds me of a mini-Dexter):


Along with the funballs stuff, we had to do Scary Stuff! Like, we got pet by other people while their doggies sat there with them (!!!). BTW, there are pictures of Other Doggies, because Mom couldn't (obviously) take pictures of me when she was doing stuff with me, and Jessi could only take so many pictures of me while still trying to teach the class. So here are some of my classmates...

Cooper the labradude and Kaley the Weimaraner:


Despite the lack of pictures, I promise you, I did Very Well (just ask Mom) with this whole exercise and was much more focused on Mom's turkey hotdogs, ah, Mom than the other doggies. I even let the people ruffle the hair on the top of my head while sitting there patiently! Go me!

Then, we did an easy-peasey exercise. Mom had to sit on the grass and keep me amused while the other doggies did their best to distract me.


I was so good I didn't even get distracted by the labradude, despite his best attempts to steal hotdog bits out of Mom's little pouch of turkey hotdogs and cheese.


Cool, huh?

Then, we went inside. It's hot, and so we spend half the class outside, get some water, and then spend the rest of the class inside. We played a lot of 'follow-the-leader' (again, no pictures, because Mom can't take pictures and walk at the same time... I don't think chews gum at the same time, either!).

In all fairness, Mom tried, but with both of us moving, she decided it was a bad idea....

See? Yeah....

Anyhoo, after walking around the store sitting and lying down and eating turkey hotdogs, we had an Obstacle Course!!!

We had the full aisle at the back of the store, and Jessi had been all sneaky-like and put out some obstacles - a frisbee with tennis balls, some rawhide chews, and a bag of treats, and Mom went to one end of the aisle while we stayed at the other end, and Mom had to call me to come to her without me being distracted by the obstacles. Lemme tell ya, passing those tennis balls was TOUGH!!!

Anyhoo, since Mom was busy calling me, she didn't get any pictures of me, but here's Kaley attempting to avoid the rawhide chewies.


And Cooper trying to avoid the bag of treats...


Again, there are no pictures of me because Mom was trying really hard not to laugh while trying to convince me to leave the tennis balls and come to her. Hey.... Tennis balls that don't have Abby Cooties on them are Pretty Tempting!

We had a good time, and Mom was very happy with how I did. And, I'll admit, I had fun. Of course, I always like having my own time with Mom - especially when she's handing out the turkey hotdogs!

Thanks Mom!

*kissey face*
-Fiona (and Abby the absent-from-this-post Hippobottomus)

Doggie Classes

Hi! When we left you, Abby and I were zooming around the park, carefree and enjoying the halcyon days of summer.

Now, we're all serious-like.


Kinda.

You know, as serious as we can be.


Which isn't particularly serious. Did I mention that my sister is a goofball?

*ahem*

Abby and I are back in Doggie School. You would think that by now, we know how to be doggies, but apparently, Mom wants us to work on the finer points of Being A Dog. Heehee. Actually, Abby is signed up for a Canine Good Citizen prep class. 'Good Citizen!' As if! She's my little sister, and lemme tell ya.... Actually, she's enough of a suck-up, that she might just be able to pull it off. However, the class is being taught by Jessi - the woman who teaches Mom how to feed us turkey hotdogs - and you would think Jessi would know Abby well enough by now to know what a pest she is! Heehee.

Anyhoo, Mom didn't get any pictures of Abby's class, because Mom was too busy trying to make it look like Abby actually belonged in the class. Mom and Abby came home with a long list of things Abby is supposed to be able to do for the test. Let's just say that Abby has a bit of work to do! Mom says she'll try to get some pictures, as there's a very handsome standard poodle in there, as well as a statuesque Swiss Mountain doggie girl (I think the Mango would swoon!) and some other well behaved doggies.

My class meets on Fridays, and I made sure Mom brought the camera. My class has 4 doggies (including me). There are two Weimaraners:

Kaley (on the right), who is the youngster of the pair, and her older brother Hunter, who is 10. I didn't spend a lot of time getting to know them, as we were supposed to be focusing on our parents, and not chatting with each other, and these two were trying to be Good Doggies.

Of course, that didn't stop me from socializing with the other doggie in the class, a Labradude named Cooper.

Hi Cooper! I'm Fiona!

Here's another picture of Cooper:


He's still a young labrapup, but quite the handsome little fellow!

And here I am, looking quite studious, if I do say so myself!


Before we got into the lesson part, Jessi gave me scratchies and smoochies.


I mean, how could you not give scratchies and smoochies to a face like mine? Heehee!


The first part of the class was out in the parking lot, and I was able to show Jessi how good I am on a leash, and how I can pay attention to Mom even when there are other doggies walking around near me. When Mom has turkey hotdogs, that is!

After we did stuff in the parking lot, we all got water, as it's hot here. I know people in the rest of the country are dealing with 100+ degree temps, but for us, 85 is pretty hot - especially when you don't have central air conditioning, and when you are doing doggie classes in hot parking lots....


Hunter decided he had had enough of the heat and called it a day. Those of you who know us, know that we have a special fondness for senior doggies, and we didn't blame the old guy for taking a nap!


We did all sorts of fun things in class, most of which involved Mom feeding me turkey hotdogs and cheese at regular intervals.


By the time we were getting ready to move inside (we're doing the classes at Petco, so when we go inside, there are all sorts of distractions...), Mom was getting pretty good at feeding me turkey hotdogs! Another 5 weeks, and she should be a real pro!

When we went insides, we did all sorts of things, like trying to stay focused while Jessi walked around squeaking squeaky toys (um, I didn't do so well with that...), and while adoptable doggies were being taken out for test drives, and while all our classmates were walking around. And then we had to do scary things like lie down and let all the other doggies in the class walk past us (good thing Mom had a big supply of treats!). I was doing pretty well with things, until I got a little, erm, distracted at the end of the class...


Hey, I was focusing on treats, and not on the other doggies. That's good, right?!? Besides, if they didn't want me to lick them, they shouldn't hang these things at snooter level! Heehee.

Apparently, Mom was "very pleased" with how I did in class today. Me? I was very pleased with Mom's lack of stinginess with the treats! I had a fun time, and I'm looking forward to 5 more weeks of Mom learning how to feed me turkey hotdogs. (You'd think she'd have learned by now, but apparently she needs regular refresher courses!)

When I got home from learning how to be civilized around other doggies, I decided to celebrate with a little bitey-face with my sister!


Heehee!


I'll keep you posted on things, but I will say, the cool thing about these classes is that Abby and I each have our own special time with Mom, since we are in different classes (and we get a break from each other!).

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus